TheRamadanOfShaykhAl-hadithMuhammadZakariyyaKandhelviAndOurEldersByShaykhDrMuhammadIsmailMemonMadani

Chapter Eightassociated with Ĥađrat for over 35 years and now spend most ofyour time in his company. Despite that, you mentioned that youcould not gain benefit from him. This last sentence may makepeople lose hope that if one person couldn’t gain anything after35 years, what are we going to gain in a short period of time. Iunderstand that you said this in humility, but the problem is thatif anyone [of the listeners] takes it seriously he will put himselfin harm.” I began to cry and responded, “Shaikh, I am sittingin the masjid; I am in i‘tikāf and am fasting, do you think I amso bad that I would lie while in this state. I swear by the nameof Allah u, that I have written the truth and am not trying tobe humble.” The reality is that I did not benefit because I didnot fulfill the conditions that are necessary for one to benefitfrom his shaikh. Remember, this is nothing new. I even wrotethat once Shaikh Sher Muĥammad asked Shaikh Sahāranpūrī,“Why are the children of shaikhs and scholars [like myself sinceI have had longtime relations with the scholars] deprived of thebenefits of this path?” He replied, “The children of the shaikhsthink themselves big sufis once their fathers pass away and asfor the scholars, they become oblivious to everything aftergaining knowledge of the Dīn.” Once they learn the Dīn ofAllah u, they become complacent and ignorant of yet anotherpath they must tread which is crucial to their success. If theydo not traverse this path, their knowledge of Dīn becomes atribulation for them and their actions meaningless and futilelike a peel thrown in the refuse. When a person does not feeland understand the importance of something, how is he goingto produce the will to do it? Without the will to do something[to attain the objective of this path] not even a shaikh’s wifeor son can achieve anything, let alone a murīd spending 10-20years with his shaikh.I never understand how scholars can be so lax in this matterwhen they know [and even teach] the hadith of Jibrā’īl e 4242 Abū Huraira g narrates that, “once the Blessed Prophet s was sitting69